


Teach A Man To Fish

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fishing, Longing, M/M, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 15:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13033776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: In the World of Ruin Ignis sets out to learn a new skill. Gladio is only too happy to help.Written for Ignis Fluff Week Day 7. Free Day.





	Teach A Man To Fish

“I've seen Noct do it a hundred times, but I've never done it myself,” Ignis admitted, his voice quiet and his face turned down.

A soft smile crept across Gladio's face at the memory. They'd _all_ watched Noct fish a hundred times over. Probably more. The kid could set himself up on the end of a jetty at sundown and keep at it until dawn, and beyond if he was after something specific. Fishing was about the only thing Noct got enthusiastic enough for that a pre-dawn wake up call was merely a hardship, instead of an untenable request. He remembered the Liege of the Lake, and Noct's elation when Gladio had finally lifted that monster out of the water.

“You could have fooled me,” Gladio replied. “You sounded pretty knowledgeable.”

There was a flash of a smile on Iggy's face, a twitch at the corner of his mouth. “I sound knowledgeable about most things,” he pointed out, and from anybody else it would have been hubris. From Ignis it more closely resembled humility when he added, “but it's from reading, not experience.”

Gladio could only nod, watching this man admit to having read about living but never having done it himself, or for himself. “Yeah, I'll teach you,” he agreed.

Which was how he found himself out on the little wooden fishing pier at Galdin Quay with his arms around Ignis. The sky was a sickly yellow, growing darker with each passing day. The Quay itself was a bastion of light against the dark, generators thrumming away while frantic work on the Exineris lines continued to try and secure power to all the corners of the continent again. There was a constant guard at the Quay, but Coctura had kept the restaurant open, serving fresh seafood to those that had stayed.

The fishing spot was just at the edge of safety, just outside the ring of lights, and yet too close for the daemons to venture near. For now, at least. As the skies grew darker, and the twilit days ever shorter, doubtless the daemons would start to encroach.

Gladio stood with his chest pressed to Ignis's back, guiding him slowly through the motion needed to cast off. “It's not a big movement,” he said, his hands covering Iggy's on the rod, “you just wanna throw the line out there, you're not hitting a daemon with your lance.”

“The grip is all wrong for that anyway,” Ignis replied, and Gladio laughed quietly and tried to ignore the scent of Iggy's shampoo in his nose, or the comfortable warmth of him in his arms. He was loose and trusting under Gladio's hands as Gladio guided him to bring the rod back, and give the small flick of the wrist as he cast with him. 

“There,” Gladio said, and Ignis gave a nod, his hair brushing Gladio's cheek. “Now you just have to wait. Reel in slowly, so it looks like prey.”

“I wonder what the appeal was, for him?” Ignis said, quietly.

Gladio gave a small shrug. “Catching your own food, going for bigger and better fish, perfecting your technique, maybe all of 'em.” He smiled a little, sadness permeating his chest at the memories that had turned bittersweet lately. “I reckon he did it for us. You got so excited about fresh fish and new recipes.”

“And you used to be so eager to help prepare and cook them,” Ignis replied. “Cooking them over an open flame seemed so much more appropriate to the quintessential camping experience than using the stove.”

Gladio felt the sweet pang of pain, of missing a friend, and kept smiling against it. “Yeah, and some of the spots we went were real pretty. Prompto got some time to get some good shots in while Noct fished.”

“Still,” Ignis said, and Gladio felt him press back into his chest ever so slightly, his hands slowly working to reel the line in, “he held an interest even before we came on this trip. I think our actions just encouraged him.”

Gladio let one of his hand drift to Iggy's hip, the other still pressed over the back of his gloved hand, exerting no force. He didn't need to be holding him; he just didn't want to let go. “Everything slows down when you're fishing,” he said, tilting his head so his mouth was closer to Iggy's ear. “It's just you, and the little space you're in, and the fish. You don't have to catch anything to enjoy it.”

Gladio saw the way Iggy's cheek pulled as he smiled, and then gave a small turn of his head, back towards his shoulder, towards Gladio. “I suppose not,” he said, his voice sending ripples up Gladio's spine that dried his throat out.

He wanted to lean in, and press his lips to that brow. He wanted to slide his arm over Iggy's lean stomach and hold him back against his chest. He wanted to breathe him in, and feel his presence, and hear his voice, even if it was only for another hour.

“Gladio?”

The sound of his name shook Gladio from his thoughts, and he loosened his grip on Ignis's hip. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for spending this time with me.”

Gladio felt the thanks surge in his chest, and he swallowed down the request to kiss Ignis that followed in its wake. “Anything for you,” he said, quietly.

**Author's Note:**

> And that marks one fic for every day of Gladnis Week, and Fluff Week. Thank you to everyone that has read, reblogged, commented, kudos'd, shared, and otherwise. It's been an amazing couple of weeks, and I'm glad to have shared it all with you.
> 
> I'm not done. See y'all on Christmas Day for the rest of this month's contributions. <3


End file.
